


The Future Deserved

by artsyspikedhair



Series: Traumatized Ron/Abusive Weasley fics [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hermione Granger Bashing, Post-Hogwarts, Ron Weasley-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 17:14:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21122369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyspikedhair/pseuds/artsyspikedhair





	The Future Deserved

Ron should’ve known when Hermione sent a flock of birds to peck his face off his sixth year that she was not the one for him.

No, he should’ve known back in his third year when she never apologized for her cat attacking Scabbers - none of them knew he was a person in disguise back then, but Hermione still never admitted her wrongdoing in the way she let Crookshanks into their, his and Harry’s, that is, the boys’ dorm. But they had been teenagers and Ron had almost no self esteem to speak of back then, so that wasn’t enough for him to throw away a perfectly good friendship back then. Not to mention Hermione had her own problems to deal with, running herself ragged. But by sixth year, she was an adult, almost. She should’ve known better than to physically attack him for... what, exactly? Having a girlfriend? He was not the one who was wrong, but he still almost had to die before she apologized.

But Ron was not a very smart person in analyzing other people’s actions. He didn’t even realize until his fourth year how much Harry truly despised being famous. He wasn’t smart enough to realize that _of course_ a piece of Voldemort’s soul would feast on his insecurities, would latch on to the weakest link (both physically, having lost _a lot_ of blood, and emotionally, with his insecurities, Ron was weakest.) Ron Weasley was a great friend, but he put up with a lot more than he should’ve.

Ron definitely should have realized when, after the war, Hermione ignored, no, intentionally avoided restoring her parents’ memories. She had grown up with these people, but she was willing to not have parents for her entire adult life? She was willing to intentionally orphan herself? Something was wrong with the woman, with the way she went about relationships, that Ron took way too long to realize.

After all, Hermione had never been the one to be socially aware. That was the entire cause of their friendship, her bossing him around until he snapped and Harry felt guilty and they rescued her and she lied to the Professors. He knew that Hermione wasn’t socially aware, like how she ignored house-elves’ wishes when she was ostensibly helping them. 

He knew entering the relationship that she didn’t like apologizing or admitting her faults, that he would be the one compromising. And compromise he did. He moved into Hogsmeade to be closer to her when she wanted to finish her schooling after the war, accepting that he would be living on someone else’s charity (this time a loan from Bill, to open a new joke shop.) He knew that she would be ambitious and not have much time for him, that he would be spending his time with her in the library or Room of Requirement rather than being out and about.   
  


But it shouldn’t have taken by complete surprise when she began lashing out at him. He should’ve set boundaries, the first time her freaking out over an essay ended in her hexing him because he had to be doing his paperwork as he listened. He should’ve been stronger, instead of folding like paper whenever she would be all sweet to him after one of their fights. He should’ve demanded an apology, an actual end to the behavior, but Ron “Least Loved” Weasley was afraid. He loved Hermione, and he knew she was entirely unafraid of leaving him if she wanted.

Still, it should not have taken Harry comparing Hermione’s reacting after one of their arguments to the way Dudley Dursley used to act after a tantrum for Ron to realize how wrong his relationship had become. Harry almost never talked about the Dursley’s, so to bring that up with Ron when Ron complained about his romantic relationship was a wake-up call.

”Ron, when’s the last time you went flying? Or visited the Burrow with her, instead of bringing me because she’s too busy?  
  


”I don’t remember.” Ron didn’t remember. When was the last time he watched a Quidditch game? Or had a conversation with Hermione about _his_ feelings and stresses?

Hermione didn’t keep Ron in a cupboard, but she expected a lot from him. The smartest witch of her age deserved a better boyfriend than boring old Ron Weasley, and Hermione was no stranger to pointing out Ron’s flaws. Harry helped Ron see clearer what they looked like from the outside.

”Ron, if Ginny came to me unable to breathe because Neville Bat-bogeyed her after an argument, I would have been screaming at her to leave him. You deserve better, and Hermione shouldn’t be taking you for granted.”

”No, no she shouldn’t.”

Ron Weasley was a fighter, but the fight for Hermione’s love and attention wasn’t worth it. Especially not when Ron could look at the happy, single, and free Harry who treated Ron like an equal. Ron deserved better, but he knew talking to Hermione would end in false promises and tears.

Ron ran Weasley’s Wheezes in Hogmeade almost singlehandedly, but when summer came, he promoted one of his employees, a Hogwarts graduate thrilled to have the responsibility and honor of managing a store. Ron moved in with Harry at Grimauld Place. He ignored Hermione’s owls until they became Howlers, and a floo call in July was all it took for him to officially tell her off. Harry remained in correspondence with her, but both Harry and Ron were happier with her physically away from them for a while. Ron still bore scars from some of her hexes, and Harry still feared his own rage if he saw the woman who had hurt his best friend like that in person. In writing, Harry tried to convey to Hermione the damage she had done, how similar to Aunt Petunia she had been in her outlook on life, but Hermione would write back essay-long letters ignoring Harry’s letters, instead keeping the discussion on her studies. Gradually, Harry lost whatever friendship he thought he would’ve been able to keep with her. Both Harry and Ron mourned the friend they once had, the girl who helped them through so much at Hogwarts, but they also felt palpable relief in no longer having the controlling, cruel adult Hermione in their lives.

  
Ron Weasley was a free man, and he was happier alone than he had been with Hermione. Ron was never really alone though, not with weekly Weasley dinners and Harry to hang out with. Mr. Weasley lamented Hermione’s absence when Ron announced the breakup, but that was more due to her Muggle knowledge than the girl herself. Mrs. Weasley began setting Ron up on blind dates, until, after Harry decided to travel, Ron realized how much he missed him. As the thing Harry would miss most, Ron was certainly encouraged to take the first Portkey to Italy, where the two now-men explored their sexualities. They realized they were better together than they were as just best mates, and a celebratory Weasley dinner in the second autumn after Ron dumped Hermione contained the official announcement, as well as the announcement that Harry would be finishing his Muggle education. Ron was supportive of this new development, and Harry learned through another witch attending Muggle school that Hermione had finally began counseling after a short stay in a dementor-free wizarding prison for assaulting another romantic partner.   
Ron and Harry grew to be adults together, and both were able to acknowledge their screw-ups and flaws. They survived a war, and Ron survived a toxic relationship immediately after, so neither one was a stranger to post-traumatic stress disorder. Therapy was one Muggle idea Harry Potter and Ron Weasley both took great care in incorporating into their lives, and Ron would later begin the first Mind-Healing program at St. Mungo’s Medical School, bringing treatment of mental health in the Wizarding World forward from the Janus-Thickley wards that eerily resembled Muggle asylums. Harry never needed to work, although he did begin publishing nonfiction books to act as an alternative source of information about the Second Wizarding War than the Daily Prophet, which began finally seeing competitors other than the Quibbler break its monopoly on Wizarding news media. All was well.


End file.
